Wednesday 29 July 2015

Review and swatches of lime crime unicorn lipsticks.



Woohoo! It's international lipstick day today! To celebrate, I've had a mega swatchfest of the most colourful lipstick collections out there. Lime Crime's Unicorn lipsticks. With whimsical packaging featuring a holographic unicorn and and lots of bright and unconventional shades for experimental makeup lovers, these lipstick have reached cult status in the beauty world. And are they worth the hype?

    Well, it depends. Some of them are. Centrifuchsia, My Beautiful Rocket, Glamour 101 and Retrofuturist have divine textures. They're really comfortable to wear and glide on like a dream. However, there's not much consistency, as some of the other shades are a thicker and drier to apply. None of them are drying per se, but the thicker textured shades would definitely require a good scrub-and-balm prep sesh before application. So considering the $18 price tag, I think it's fair to say there are better quality lipsticks at a cheaper price mark out there. But then... there are so many unique shades. I absolutely adore Chinchilla. And I'm pining for Serpentina, the Emerald green shade. UPDATE: I got it! I've included it in the swatches*. And the packaging is so cute. At the end of the day, it depends what your makeup tastes are. Some of you will find them must-haves, others will find them 'meh'. Me? Well, I've accumulated 12 of them, so I guess I'm a sucker. Anyway, have some swatches!
*ANOTHER UPDATE: I've added Cry Baby, the limited edition collaboration with Melanie Martines added to my collection. Swatch added :D

lime crime unicorn lipsticks

lime crime lipstick- retrofuturist

lime crime lipstick- d'lilac

lime crime lipstick- airbourne unicorn

lime crime lipstick- coquette

lime crime lipstick- poisonberry

lime crime lipstick- my beautiful rocket

lime crime lipstick- babette

lime crime lipstick- glamour 101

lime crime lipstick- cosmopop

lime crime lipstick- geradium

lime crime lipstick- chinchilla
lime crime lipstick- serpentina

lime crime lipstick- centrifucshia


What do you think of those swatches? Hopefully you can tell that they're super opaque and not streaky at all. I love them all, but my favourites are Chinchilla, Airbourne Unicorn and Centrifucshia. I've made a vow to buy no more though. Serpentina, thou shalt not tempt me. 


If you have any questions, feel free to ask x

Tuesday 28 July 2015

makeup revolution I heart makeup I heart my lips lipstick. review and swatches.


Bloody hell. That's the most hearts I've ever had put into a title. I Heart Makeup is a sub brand of Makeup Revolution, and they have two lipstick collections: The Lip Geek lipsticks and the I Heart My Lips lipsticks. It's a shade from the latter I'll be reviewing today.




The packaging is lightweight and a bit teenage, but that's the brand's target audience and at £2.49, if does the job, I ain't complaining. The bullet, as you can see, is heart shaped. It has an inner core with subtle shimmer and a matte outer. I'm not quite sure why, other than for the novelty factor- it looks completely matte on the lips.


Matte, but completely comfortable and not drying at all. And with rich, streak free colour payoff. That lasts. For ages. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. I was expecting it to be okayish for a budget brand, but the formula blew my preconceptions to smithereens. You need to buy at least one of these. Have a look at that swatch!

makeup revolution I heart my lips- racing heart lipstick

Deep plummy gorgeousness. I'm in love. Tell me I'm not alone?

Wednesday 22 July 2015

models own festival lipstick review and swatches

 
Well, I was browsing through Superdrug and came across a colour explosion in the Models Own stand. Ooh, a festival themed summer release. Oooh, new lippies. I came away with two because I have no willpower. One of them was a semi matte lipstick (reviewed here), and the other is this one. The festival lipstick in 'daisychain', which, going by the colour swatch on the base of the cap, I assumed would be a candy pink. But damn, it turned out to be a very light pink indeed! Let's take a look then.
 


I love love love the colourful cardboard packaging. It's actually not flimsy at all and looks very festival-ish, and is appropriately lightweight. It reminds me of those now discontinued but once much loved carboard-packaged Accessorize lipsticks.


See, a VERY pale pink. It's white-based, like the recent MAC Giambattista Valli Bianca B, but even paler. Yeah. It's a very difficult colour to pull off, and on my Asian skintone, it looks like this:


Ha! No. Gross. Luckily, though it's way too pale on its own, I found a way to make use of it, and it's now actually become a staple in my collection. I used a darker pink lipliner (this was a twist one one from Collection) to outline my lips and fill inwards a little. Then I applied 'daisychain' in the centre and blended it into the darker ring with a lip brush. Hey presto. Pretty ombre lips!


The lipstick is described as 'moisturising' and I agree- it did feel comfortable to wear and wasn't chalky to apply. Despite it being such a pale colour, it didn't apply too patchily. So all in all, I'm a fan. Stay tuned for my next post! Until then.

Kisses x

Tuesday 21 July 2015

collection field day lipstick review and swatches



Oops. I actually got this lippy when it was newly released as part of Collection cosmetics' Field Day spring release, but somehow I forgot to review it then. Better late than never though right? This one is called Tulip, one of three shades. Tulip is matte, as is one of the other shades, and the other is a gloss finish. And here's one I made earlier:

collection field day lipstick- tulip
       As you can see, the packaging is different to the regular black casing. The white and orange is definitely fresh and fun looking, though obviously more likely to appeal to teens than sophisticated coiffed and polished ladies. All the same, it's sturdy and not flimsy at all.  I noticed its really delicious scent. Now I'm usually not a fan of scented products, but this isn't overpowering and is actually really yummy smelling, so it's a win for me.

      Being a budget priced matte, I expected it to be really chalky and drying, but it actually performed quite well. There was a little patchiness on application but a lip brush or a second swipe fixed that, and it was opaque without the need for building and actually not dry. It wasn't moisturising, but it definitely didn't dry my lips out, and considering high end lippies often fail in that regard (cough cough, MAC's matte formulas), that's pretty impressive.

     The colour is a pretty, spring appropriate candy pink. It looks cooler toned on my lips that in the bullet, but I guess that's just a result of how it looks against my skintone. If this isn't your shade of pink, perhaps you'll like one of the other two shades of pink in the collection.

collection field day lipstick- tulip
      If you want to try something from the Field Day collection, I think they're available till the end of summer, so get a move on. The lipsticks are available at a cheap and cheerful £2.99 from Boots, Superdrug, and the Collection website. Let me know your thoughts, babeface xx

Monday 13 July 2015

Joan Collins Divine Lips lipstick review and swatches.


Did you know Joan Collins has her own makeup line? Well she does. It's called Joan Collins Timeless Beauty. I was pretty intrigued when I first discovered it: there seem to be a lot of beneficial ingredients in the products, which look luxe and high quality. Obviously, I had to try one of the lipsticks. They are named after characters Collins has played and come with matching nail lacquers. I have the shade 'Melanie'. Let's take a look then shall we?

Joan Collins Divine Lips lipstick- Marilyn

       Well, the packaging is lovely. Weighty, fluted gold casing with a satisfyingly slow twist to extend the bullet. It's classy and womanly and, yes, appropriately 'timeless' in its glamour. We'd expect nothing less, innit?

       Melanie is an interesting shade. It looks to be very much a plum in the tube but once applied, appears brightened. I'd say it's a berry-pink on the lips. Either way, it's a beautiful shade that lifts the complexion, and one that's sure to flatter every skin tone. It applies nearly opaque, and simply glides on. Seriously. I'm in love with how it feels on the lips. It's so hydrating and silky- like butter. My lips feel comfortable and pampered throughout wear.

        However, that comes at a cost. Its emollient texture and comfortable slip mean that you will invariably get a lot of transfer and bleeding beyond the lipline. I recommend using a clear lipliner outside of the edges of your lips- that solves the problem of bleeding just fine for me. As for the transfer, it does compromise the longevity, but thankfully the fade is flattering- no dreadful ring of colour.


       So. Overall: it looks amazing, it feels amazing- but it's not for foolproof slapdash last minute application. What do you reckon? Me, I'm itching for the matching nail lacquer...

The Joan Collins Divine Lips lipstick is available from joancollinsbeauty.com, priced at £18.

Xx



Wednesday 8 July 2015

Aerin rose balm lipstick- perfect nude

I'm reviewing a high end lippy today! I really shouldn't splurge on pricey lipsticks, what with my meagre student budget and all. .. but... I deserve a treat now and then, so shut up. Anyway, introducing the first lipstick offering by Aerin,  who is, I believe,  the granddaughter of Estee Lauder.  

     Just look how beautiful the packaging is! It's squared and heavy shiny golden gorgeousness with a textured accent at the top. It's that sort of luxury that makes you feel very womanly to toy with it. You feel me? 


          The main feature of this product is meant to be its hydrating properties. Inspired by roses, its waxy texture is supposed to seal moisture in- like the waterproof underside of a rose petal. Rose petals, apparently, have really moisturising properties too, and are somehow infused into the formula. The result?

           A thick, balmy, slightly heavy formula that smells of roses. It glides on smoothly and is well pigmented, settling to a soft sheen finish. If you don't like scented lipsticks or just find the smell of roses overpowering, I think you might want to give this miss, as while the frangrance doesn't linger once on, it is definitely strong on application. You might also give this a miss if you prefer your lipstick to feel barely-there and lightweight. Personally, I'm in love with the creamy, luxurious texture. It makes my lips feel soft and plump, and, as promised, moisturised. As for the scent, it definitely took some getting used to, but I quite like it now.



      I got the shade 'perfect nude', which is a light brown-beige with a smidge of mauve, and it is literally the PERFECT nude. Oh em gee. I seriously love it. I've got a medium wheat asian skintone and it complements my complexion so well without washing me out, though it's such a pretty neutral shade that I think it would work universally on all skin tones. 

Aerin Rose Balm lipstick is available from the Estee Lauder website and is priced at £26. What do you think? Are ypu tempted or nah?

Saturday 4 July 2015

avon ultra colour lipstick review- review and swatches



Babes. Brace yerselves, because I've got a MASSIVE post for you today. You know those Avon ultra colour rich lipsticks? Well, they've been updated and revamped and reinvented into a new line. simply called: the Ultra Colour Lipsticks. Over the past year, my collection of these babies has steadily grown, including one of every themed/ limited edition line and a variety of finishes. So I thought it was high time I got a review down. Here they are!

Avon Ultra Colour Lipsticks

    Don't they look great? As you can see, there's a pretty wide colour selection-  and I've only got around a third of them- so you can bet there'll be a shade to suit you within the collection. As you can also see, the packaging is different to the original rounded tubes. They're still black with a shiny silver panel for the logo so they're not radically transformed, by I think the squared shape and the handy clear window at the top look great. Sophisticated and sturdy and practical. The plastic is of good quality, the kind that won't be easily scratched up. 


        As I mentioned though, there are some themed collections within the line. Most of them (like the spring shades) have the same packaging as the regular line, but the above ones are slightly different. The 'Soft Matte' collection has a matte black band with the logo on instead of the silver; the 'Bling' collection has a plastic gem on top instead of the clear window; the 'Hollywood' collection has lettering on the cap and gold rather than silver detailing, including the inner tube. Thankfully, none of them look tacky or OTT.


Avon Ultra Colour Lipstick- spring shades
Avon Ultra colour Soft Matte/ Bling/ Hollywood collection
        These lipsticks promise creamy, rich, comfortable colour- and they seriously deliver. They all, without exception, glide onto the lips like butter and feel hydrating and soft throughout wear. Considering the emollient texture, they last fairly well and don't bleed at all. They have no discernible scent or taste and don't feel sticky or heavy. Priced at £7.50 and regularly on offer, I reckon that's a proper bargain. The only thing is, the opacity varies between shades, so it's a good idea to research the colours you want if you're unsure of the pigmentation. Well, ain't you lucky I'm your friend. I've found that generally speaking, the colours in the bold line are entirely opaque, the ones in the regular line are very pigmented, the matte and shimmer shades are a little sheerer but still give a pop of colour, and the spring shades are quite sheer, with just a gentle wash of colour. Ready for some swatches? Of course you are.
 
clockwise from top left: wild ginger, matte blossom, optimistic orchid, starlet glamour, demure, fearless fuchsia,
clockwise from top left- twinkle pink, lava love, discovery pink, nude vixen, wandering rose, oxford wine

avon ultra colour bling lipstick- wild ginger
avon ultra colour soft matte lipstick- matte blossom
avon ultra colour spring shades lipstick- optimistic orchid
avon ultra colour Hollywood collection lipstick- starlet glamour
avon ultra colour lipstick- demure
avon ultra colour bold lipstick- fearless fuchsia
avon ultra colour shimmer lipstick- twinkle pink
avon ultra colour lipstick- lava love
avon ultra colour spring shades lipstick- discovery pink
avon ultra colour lipstick- nude vixen
avon ultra colour spring shades lipstick- wandering rose
avon ultra colour lipstick- oxford wine

Thanks for dropping by, you xx